A Toronto Maple Leafs Quarantine Love Story

Each love story is unique. For a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs, his romance with a celebrity blossomed while in isolation.

For love to bloom while the world is asked to remain apart is incredibly difficult. Luckily, for the Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly, he met his romantic interest prior to beginning social distancing.

Now, Rielly and his girlfriend Tessa Virtue find themselves exploring their young relationship while secluded together.

Virtue is one of the most decorated figure skaters in history. She and her partner Scott Moir have won Olympic gold medals in both the ice dance and team events. Together they have won five medals at the Olympics, more than any other figure skater. Virtue owns three golds and two silver medals.

Rielly has some medals he can hang around his neck too, though arguably not nearly as impressive. Rielly picked up a bronze medal in 2011 at the World U-17 Hockey Challenge and a gold at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament. His biggest international win was at the 2016 IIHF World Championships, where he and Team Canada won the gold.

In late February, Auston Matthews went on Barstool’s “Spittin’ Chicklets” podcast and let the world know that Rielly, his good friend, is spending too much time with Virtue. He even sarcastically hinted at being jealous of Virtue for getting to spend quality time with the Dman. Unfortunately for Matthews, he’s not the one riding out the pandemic with Rielly.

For Rielly and Virtue, being in seclusion together has likely enhanced their relationship. Without as much distance or time apart, their bond may be growing exponentially daily. Psychology Today suggests that COVID-19 will have lasting effects on relationships.

"Drs. Catherine Cohan, Assistant Research Professor at The Pennsylvania State University, and fellow researcher, Steve W. Cole at the University of California, Los Angeles looked at data following Hurricane Hugo in 1989, Their analysis, “Life Course Transitions and Natural Disaster: Marriage, Birth, and Divorce Following Hurricane Hugo” in the Journal of Family Psychology, “indicated that the year following the hurricane, marriage, birth, and divorce rates increased in the 24 counties declared disaster areas.” They note, “the results suggested that a life-threatening event motivated people to take significant action in their close relationships that altered their life course.”"

The time together for this skating power couple could have lasting results. There’s no way to know at this juncture what’s in store for their future but all the time spent together may potentially bring the two closer together. It wouldn’t be surprising if nine months from now the couple welcomed a baby.

Conversely, there’s also the possibility that spending every moment together could drive the two apart. Perhaps Rielly continues to leave dirty dishes in the sink or Virtue doesn’t clean up her toenail clippings, getting on the other’s nerves. While we root for their love story to press forward, it may not last through the pandemic.

We hope that the pair’s love continues to flourish. It’s something bright during these dark days that fans can easily rally behind.